Classification of Business Consultants

Classification of Business Consultants

Generally, a consultant is a professional who offers professional or expert advice pertaining to a specialized field or industry vertical. In the medical sphere, the term consultant is specifically used for a grade of doctor. There are different kinds of business consultants who have broad knowledge related to particular subjects in their niche industry. Every business whether a B2B or B2C requires one or more types of business consultants. Apart from the medical consultants, the rest of the business consultants typically fall under two categories, internal and external consultants.

Internal consultant: is a professional operating within a company but could be consulted by individuals or departments treated as clients for advice requiring the consultant’s expertise or his area of intensive study.

External consultant: is employed externally by a firm on a temporary basis for a negotiated fee and external consultants typically engage with multiple clients.

The six major types of business consultants

Business consultants add value to businesses. They operate in six major areas of business’ mid-marketing level based on which they are categorized as follows;

Management and Strategy Consultant

Most often a management consultant takes up the dual role of strategy consultant and vice versa. The consultant has expertise in strategic aspects like economic policy, organizational strategy, government policy, functional strategy, etc. Organizational advisors and business consultants are the management consultants who specialize in all sorts of organizational issues right from strategy to other aspects within management. As a management and strategy consultant, they have strong quantitative and analytical skills enabling them to be better business advisors.

The Management and Strategy Consultant that you choose for your B2B business must have deeper knowledge pertaining to the particular vertical market your business falls under. Their role would include and not limited to bringing in the best practices applicable to your industry. You can opt for such consultants particularly when you would want to expand your market while elevating your company’s unique capabilities in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Operations Consultant

Operations consultants are the key to improving the quality and efficiency of your business’ production process. The best operations consultant can also help you implementing innovative means of enhancing productivity and efficiency of your business. In this segment, the consultants’ activities vary from advisory services to aiding in implementing support in primary functions like sales, marketing, production, and secondary functions like finance, HR, legal, ICT, etc. As operations coalesce with other strategy and technological aspects of a business, most operations consultants work hand-in-hand with the strategic and technical consultants.

HR Consultant

HR consultants help businesses with queries and concerns pertaining to human capital within the business. They also aid their clients or the business by strategizing and creating plans to improve the performance of the company’s HR team. Some of the primary activities the best HR consultant deals with include and not limited to organizations changes and change management; designing and deriving the terms of employment; talent management and recruitment, to name a few.

Public Relations or PR Consultant

A PR Consultant’s role is versatile in nature as it includes and not limited to writing press releases, public speaking, events management, and more. Basically, they handle the public image of your company or brand with an objective of showcasing your business in a challenging and exciting way by making the consumers and clients aware of news and events related to your business. Typically a business needs a PR consultant to garner public interest and acceptance.

Financial Advisory Consultant

Generally, a financial advisory consultant addresses queries pertaining to the financial and analytical capabilities of the company or brand and advises on the areas of improvements for risk management, tax restricting, financial dispute management, etc. They are sought by businesses that are into niche advisory offices, consulting and accounting firms.

IT Consultant

Also known as ICT or digital consultant, an IT consultant’s primary focus is on aiding their business clients with the development and application of information technology within their company. Some of their activities include and not limited to ERP systems applications, system integration, digital data analytics, cybersecurity, IT forensic, process management, to name a few. The top HR Advisory and Services will help you find the best consultants for your business